Tiny katydid. (With candy cane legs).

After posting the picture yesterday of the katydid that managed to avoid being weeded, I thought I would follow-up with this photo of a tiny katydid I took a few weeks ago.

When katydids first start wandering around in our garden they are tiny, (this one was only about 5mm long) and very cute. We can see them all over the place for about a week and then they seemingly disappear. Later, they turn up looking more like the one from yesterday but I really love them when they are this small.

I found out that the reason some of these tiny creatures are green and others are candy cane striped is due to what they are eating. I am not sure what the ones who look like this could have eaten to make the so red, but knowing that makes me want to catch a few and only feed them purple or orange food…..

Apparently they eat whatever plant they live on, which is probably why the adult one from yesterday was parsley green! If the babies eat rose petals that can be what colours them red or yellow. The colour only lasts a few moults and then they become the same colour green as the adults.

I have never seen these babies on appropriately coloured plants though. This one was on an agapanthus, I often find them there or on the rosemary!

That’s really strange then. There must be something in the plant that has nothing to do with its appearance. And it can’t be a survival mechanism coz these little guys would stick out to all predators.

They are quite bouncy and unbelievably small though, one wouldn’t be much of a meal! Sometimes I have accidentally taken photos of them while I am looking at something else and not even noticed until I blow them up on the computer!
We have a giant rose bush which grows up to the top of the Ti-Trees right near the agapanthus and rosemary. I expect that they eat those flowers and accidentally drop out of the sky onto the green leaves of everything else. 🙂